The leader Michael was my opponent this week. Michael is the twin of Darren (D-Man) my co-host on the #FootyOnTop show. Ironically he was only asked to be in the league as someone pulled out at the last minute, and he has just cruised through, losing just one game all season. He is clearly laughing at us all, we are peasants to him. He of course had a solid team, and he had my nemesis in Bruno Fernandes, who it was more than likely he would make his captain. In regards to my team, I contemplated bringing in another Burnley defender as Charlie Taylor was injured and there was no sign that he would be fit in time. I also looked at bringing in West Ham's Aaron Cresswell as when I used my 'Wildcard' that was who I wanted, but as his price went up I got in his teammate Vladimir Coufal. In the end I decided not to make any changes as next gameweek is a limited one with only six matches.
When the deadline passed, as I thought Fernandes was Michael's captain. I gave my captaincy to Harry Kane as Mike did not have him before the deadline, so I thought that Kane could be a big differential against Leeds. Leeds like to attack so I thought that Kane could exploit any space given as him and Heung-min Son have connected on numerous counter attacks this season. If Kane was not to be on job however I would be in serious trouble as Michael had Son in his team anyway, so we cancelled each other out there.
The weeks' action began on New Years Day at Goodison Park and it looked like Everton and West Ham was going to end in a stalemate. Then in the 86th minute an Aaron Cresswell ball into the box was turned in by Tomas Soucek...'SCENES!'. West Ham at the death!, 'great stuff', Dominic Calvert-Lewin drawing a blank was great news too as Michael had him up front. Soucek got maximum bonus points and Cresswell got two bonus points, imagine if I had been brave enough to put him in too. Just like that I went from nine points with him and Vladimir Coufal (clean sheet points) to 17, 'good stuff'. Next was Manchester United at home to Aston Villa. I needed Ollie Watkins who was somehow still in my team to produce, and I needed a blank from Bruno Fernandes...I was to get neither! United edged through 2-1 and Fernandes scored a debatable penalty (as per) and Watkins had two good headed chances. David De Gea saved the first, the other Watkins headed wide. Watkins is so frustrating, but he is always involved as he works so hard. I have a big decision to make with him as Villa play in gameweek 18 at home to Spurs, and this has all gone on long enough! I messaged Mike to say "boo" at the fact Fernandes scored, to which he smartly replied and taunted me with "boo(m!)" Fernandes had been assisting quite a bit recently so I suppose I got off lightly with just one contribution from him.
It was now time for my captain to play as Saturday began with Spurs at home to Leeds. Marcelo Bielsa's men started well but it was Spurs who took the lead. A challenge on Steven Bergwijn was actually outside the box, but a penalty was given. Harry Kane scored the penalty so believe I was not complaining! Kane was to then setup the second for Son and I was in buoyant mood as my captain had outscored Michael's. Add that to yesterdays points and I was in a decent position as he had Patrick Bamford who drew a blank. Kane and Son have now combined for 13 goals this season which is the joint highest since the Premier League began and they still have over 20 games left. Amazing. Son was to assist Spurs' third goal as his corner was headed in by Toby Alderweireld. Neither of us had anyone in Crystal Palace's win 2-0 win over Sheffield United so to the Amex we go. Brighton and Wolves played out a crazy 3-3 draw that no-one expected. Wolves' second goal was an own goal by Dan Burn, but it came from a deflected shot by Pedro Neto, so he got a 'fantasy' assist, 'i'll take that, thank you!'. The last game was Arsenal's 4-0 drubbing of West Brom but none of us had anyone playing in that either.
We found out on Saturday that Burnley's game with Fulham had been called off due to a Covid outbreak, so the first game was between Newcastle and Leicester. Both of us had Jamie Vardy and he was to assist the first goal for James Maddison as the Foxes won 2-1. Next up was a huge game for Michael, as Chelsea and Manchester City met: I had no one playing, but he had three defenders in his team across the the two sides, so the last thing I needed was a goalless draw. City made sure there would be no chance of that as they went into a 3-0 first half lead. The game finished 3-1 and I had now won regardless of what happened on Monday between Southampton and Liverpool.
Lucky I was not dependant on the Monday night game to get a victory as Liverpool were beaten by 1-0 by Southampton. As Burnley's game with Fulham did not take place, this meant I got Kyle Walker-Peters' points off the bench. Goodness me, I felt disgusted, I do not start players against my team and then by default I get clean sheet points that I never wanted, 'yuck'. I also lost my FPL Cup game which was a shame, but I toppled the leader, and you cannot frown upon that. Trust the rest of the top five in the head-to-head league to lose when I did them all a favour, so ironically this defeat was not anywhere near as costly for Mike as it should have been. He is indeed still laughing at us all with an eight point lead. In that aforementioned cup game, I lost by 9 points as my opponent got 11 points off the bench from guess who...Aaron Cresswell, this tragic irony that even William Shakespeare would have been proud of.
@DubulDee
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